[The Saucepan Man]

[img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] *Feels a bit embarassed*

Thanks Sharku and Raefindel. I'm new here and didn't realise that you can search.

Wow! This is a question that has certainly provoked much discussion. I counted at least five threads. I like these explanations best:

1. The Eagles would have been butchered by the Nazgul over Mordor and the Ring claimed for Sauron (but I still hold that enough of them could have held off the Nazgul).

2. The Eagles, being either uninterested in(unaffected by?)the Ring or too unwilling and disintereted to take on such a risky role, would not have agreed to it.

3. The Ring, being of Middle Earth, had to be dealt with by the free people of Middle Earth and not by the Eagles.

4. Saruman and Sauron could have made life difficult for them en route.

5. Would Frodo have been able to throw the Ring in? (Shame on the suggestion that Gwaihir could have dropped in Frodo, the Ring and all).

And of course ... we wouldn't have been blessed with the greatest novel of all time ...

[img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.